Excess computer equipment that is outdated and no longer in use by the Uniontown Area School District may soon be headed to a Westmoreland County recycling center, the district's buildings and grounds director told the school board Tuesday.

During a work session, Rob Smalley said much of the equipment cannot be discarded because of environmental regulations, but Envirocycle Inc. can recycle the monitors, central processing units, mice, keyboards and other items at a cost.

The company has a Mount Pleasant location, Smalley said, so district employees will be able to transport the items. He said it costs $7 per monitor, $1 per CPU and 15 cents per pound for mice, keyboards and other miscellaneous equipment to be recycled.

"We have a lot built up, and work is going to begin at the high school at the start of the year," Smalley said. "We need to start getting rid of some of this stuff."

The board will consider a motion at Monday's business meeting to recycle the outdated equipment, along with a motion to sell unused and outdated furnishings from Menallen School and other district buildings.

Smalley said Menallen staff will go through the items and identify furnishings that they wish to keep, then administrators at Ben Franklin, Lafayette and A.J. McMullen schools may take any items they desire for their buildings.

Then, the items will be available to the public for sale.

Directors debated how they wanted the sale to take place - through an auction, sealed bids or selling the items by bulk.

Solicitor Michael Brungo said that sealed bids may be the best avenue to take, but selling trailers full of items at once, similar to equipment sales held in the Albert Gallatin School District, are also suitable.

"There's nothing in the law that dictates how a school district can dispose of personal property," he said. "It's your option how you want to get rid of it."

In other news, construction manager Sam Denney said work at Menallen School continues, with plans to renovate the multi-purpose room slated to begin as soon as students are dismissed for summer. He said concrete work at the new Marclay School is 65 percent complete, and the contractor is starting to set wall frames.

On Monday, the board will adopt the tentative 2005-06 budget and vote on a resolution for an additional earned income tax as part of Act 72, the Homeowner Tax Relief Act.

According to business manager Floyd Geho, the resolution is the same as one already adopted by school directors in the Connellsville Area School District. The resolution includes language that declares the property tax relief act null and void if gaming allocations fail to arrive as promised.

Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky noted that representatives from Gov. Ed Rendell's office will meet with Fayette County school board members and school district administrators today at 1:30 p.m. at the Fayette County Public Safety Building commissioners' meeting room to discuss Act 72.

As of Tuesday, Connellsville Area is the only local school district to opt into the act's requirements. School boards have until May 30 to decide whether to take part in Act 72.

The board will hold an Act 34 hearing about the high school project at 6 p.m. Monday, with the business meeting at 6:30. 

Source: heraldstandard.com